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Arrian to Lucius Gellius, with wishes for his happiness.

I NEITHER wrote these Discourses1 of Epictetus in the way
in which a man might write such things; nor did I make
them public myself, inasmuch as I declare that I did not
even write them. But whatever I heard him say, the
same I attempted to write down in his own words as
nearly as possible, for the purpose of preserving them as
memorials to myself afterwards of the thoughts and the
freedom of speech of Epictetus. Accordingly, the Discourses are naturally such as a man would address without preparation to another, not such as a man would write
with the view of others reading them. Now, being such,
I do not know how they fell into the hands of the public,
without either my consent or my knowledge. But it
concerns me little if I shall be considered incompetent
to write; and it concerns Epictetus not at all if any man
shall despise his words; for at the time when he uttered
them, it was plain that he had no other purpose than to
move the minds of his hearers to the best things. If, indeed,
these Discourses should produce this effect, they will have,
I think, the result which the words of philosophers ought
to have. But if they shall not, let those who read them
know that, when Epictetus delivered them, the hearer
could not avoid being affected in the way that Epictetus
wished him to be. But if the Discourses themselves,
as they are written, do not effect this result, it may be
that the fault is mine, or, it may be, that the thing is
unavoidable.

Farewell!

1 A. Gellius (i. 2 and xvii. 19）
speaks of the Discourses of Epictetus
being arranged by Arrian; and Gellius (xix. 1) speaks of a fifth book
of these Discourses, but only four are extant and some fragments. The
whole number of books was eight, as Photius (Cod. 58) says. There
is also extant an Encheiridion or Manual, consisting of short pieces
selected from the Discourses of Epictetus; and there is the valuable
commentary on the Encheiridion written by Simplicius in the sixth
century A. D. and in the reign of Justinian.
Arrian explains in a manner what he means by saying that he did
not write these Discourses of Epictetus; but he does not explain his
meaning when he says that he did not make them public. He tells
us that he did attempt to write down in the words of Epictetus what
the philosopher said; but how it happened that they were first published, without his knowledge or consent, Arrian does not say. It
appears, however, that he did see the Discourses when they were
published; and as Schweighaeuser remarks, he would naturally correct
any errors that he detected, and so there would be an edition revised
by himself. Schweighaeuser has a note (i. ch. 26, 13) on the difficulties
which we now find in the Discourses.

The Discourses of Epictetus, with the Encheridion and Fragments. Epictetus. George Long. translator. London. George Bell and Sons. 1890.

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